ASU football, offensive line making progress in summer workouts

by Doug Haller - Jul. 5, 2012 11:13 AMThe Republic | azcentral.com

At the end of Arizona State's spring practice, first-year coach Todd Graham made one thing clear: To run his style, the Sun Devils needed to be in better shape. They needed to have a good summer. With that in mind, I recently checked in with Shawn Griswold, ASU's Director of Strength and Conditioning, to ask about summer workouts. Here's what I learned:

Upon his hire in January, Griswold changed ASU's approach to conditioning. It's pretty much a completely different program, and it took a while for the football team to adjust. "The style that we run (on the field) is different,'' Griswold said. "Part of our conditioning is just running from drill to drill, running off the field, on the field, so I have to get them in shape just so we can practice. But in today's day and age, even if we ran a "3 yards and a cloud of dust" offense, I would still train this way because so many teams run sort of a spread, no-huddle offense. You still have to be in shape to defend that or compete against it. In the Pac-12 now, your defense has to be in great shape."

Griswold said the team has improved, but as a program, it probably will take two years to get to where they want. That's how it worked at Tulsa, where he also worked under Graham. "What we're trying to do this summer is obviously trying to gain strength, but we're trying to get in shape so that we can run the things that we want to run, how we run them at the tempo we need to run them,'' he said. "Trying to get above 80 plays a game, the way college football is today, it's harder. There were times at Tulsa when we were hitting 95 plays. Oklahoma has hit 100 plays, so we're trying to create an on-field tempo that can't be matched by anybody, and that's difficult to do because there are a lot of teams that now run this."

Position group that has stood out: the offensive line. "They have shown the most progress, and not only with the weight lifting, but with their cohesion,'' Griswold said of a group that pretty much is breaking in three starters. "And that's the way it should be. That group should be the tightest group. The receivers and DBs, they can be tight, but they're not five guys walking out there hand in hand. Those guys are as good as each other so they need to be tight. They've done a good job of coming together. If you watch a lift in here, it's always high energy (among them.) They help each other, they're yelling and screaming for each other, they're having fun, they're very competitive, going the extra rep, pushing each other. Those are the things that pull you together." Senior guard Andrew Sampson has taken on a leadership role, but junior tackle Evan Finkenberg and junior center Kody Koebensky have helped. Senior tackle Brice Schwab has stood out with his work ethic.

Individual leaders who have stood out: Senior safety Keelan Johnson, junior safety Alden Darby, junior defensive tackle Will Sutton and quarterbacks Taylor Kelly, Mike Bercovici and Michael Eubank. "And really, (senior receiver) Jamal Miles in his own way has come out of his shell,'' Griswold said. "He's not a real vocal guy, but he's stepping out of his shell a little bit and encouraging guys."

Someone who has made a lot of progress: Junior outside linebacker Anthony Jones. "If he can keep a positive attitude like he has now and the way he has trained with his ability to move and with his speed, he can really help us,'' Griswold said.

Like they did during spring practice, the Sun Devils take a disciplined approach, and Griswold thinks it's starting to become habit. "What I like about the whole team is, when someone says something to a teammate, 'Hey, stand up. Hey, don't lean on the cooler. Stand up when you get a drink. Hands off your hips,' Guys aren't bickering at each other now, so that means we're making progress,'' he said. "It's not being mean. It's a discipline thing."

ASU's summer program lasts nine weeks, broken into two sessions. The first lasted May 29 through June 22. After a discretionary week, the second started July 2 and runs through July 27. ASU works out Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, two hours each day. Fridays are structured like games. For example, this week the Sun Devils will run 14 "plays" for four quarters, each play lasting 5-7 seconds. The goal is to get ASU running on the same energy in the fourth quarter as it did in the first. "Late in the fourth quarter, if you're not in good shape, that's when teams put the hammer down on you," Griswold said. "Well, we're trying to be the hammer and not the hammered."

Overall, Griswold is pleased. "They've come a long way,'' he said. "Our first four weeks of summer were very good. We've made huge strides in strength and with the conditioning part of it. There's still some guys we need to get going. ... It takes times to adapt, but from Day 1 we have made huge strides. Not only physically, but mentally just with the lifestyle change and commitments that they've made."